Clothes-drier.



E. A. WILLIAMS. CLOTHES DRIER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 18, 1012.

Patented Mar. 10, 1914.

a SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES E. A. WILLIAMS.

CLOTHES DRIER APPLICATION FILED NOV. 18, 1912.

1,090,002. Patented MEL1.10,1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES INVENTOR 56721172 .19. William; By @MM E. A. WILLIAMS.

CLOTHES DRIER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 18, 1912.

1,090,0Q2. Patented Mar. 10, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

ITE STAT? PATENT FFICE.

EDWIN ALVIN WILLIAMS, OF CANTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

CLOTHES-DRIER.

roac es.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN A. WILLIAMS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Canton, in the county of Bradford and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Clothes-Drier, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

Among the principal objects which the present invention has in view are: to provide an apparatus for hanging clothes suspended from the ceiling of a room and disposed in juxtaposed relation thereto; to provide means for lowering and elevating the apparatus; to provide a simple and ethcient means for locking the apparatus in raised position; to provide means for removing operative parts of the apparatus to avoid interference by persons passing; and to simplify and economize the construction of the apparatus.

Reference is to be had to accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views, and in which- Figure 1 is a vertical section of the apparatus, the section being taken on the median line thereof and showing the apparatus in raised position; Fig. 2 is a detail view showing the top of a socket plate employed in the apparatus; Fig. 3 is a detail view, on an enlarged scale in. vertical section, showing the locking end of the guide standard and elevator tube therefor; Fig. t is a side view, partly in section, showing a modified form of the apparatus in lowered or receiving position, fragments only of the rack arms being shown; Fig. 5 is a detail view of the hinge plate shown in Fig. l; Fig. 6 is a vertical section of an apparatus of the character named, constructed and arranged in accordance with a modified form of the invention; Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail view in vertical section, of a modified form of the means for suspending the apparatus in its normal or raised position; Fig. 8 is a similar view taken from a view point perpendicular to that from which Fig. 7 was taken.

As seen in the accompanying drawings, a tubular guide rod 10 is permanently mount-ed to the ceiling of a room by means of a socket 11 rigidly bolted or otherwise secured to the standing structure. The rod 10 is provided as a guide for a socket plate 12 and a lifting tube 13. The plate 12 is Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 18, 1912.

Patented Mar. 10, 1914. Serial No. 731,964.

formed from two sections rigidly connected by means of rivets 1 1 to register stamped sectlons 15, to conjointly form sockets for holding rack arms 16.

The united sections forming the socket plate 12 may be constructed from cast metal; I, however, prefer to form the same from suitable sheet metal, the section 15 therein being pressed, and the holes for the rivets 1 1 being bored.

To reinforce the center of the plate 12, and to form a guide therefor, a spider casting 17 is secured thereto by means of rivets 18. The spider casting is provided with a collar 19, which is suitably secured to the lifting tube 13. A short sleeve section 20 see Fig. 1 of the drawings-is secured within the tube at the top thereof to slide on the rod 10.

The interior diameter of the tube 13 is larger than the exterior diameter of the rod 10, thereby insuring freedom of movement of the tube over said rod. At the lower end, the tube 13 is closed by a plug 2 1. The plug 24 is pivotally mounted in a cupped handle 25. Mounted on said handle is a tube 26, the upper end of which extends through the plug 24 into the tube 13. The upper end of the tube 26 is split lengthwise to form suitable resilient sections, the ends 27 whereof are flared, as best seen in Fig. 3 of the drawings, to be engaged by an in ternal latch head 28, with which the rod 10 is provided.

The flared ends 27 are normally constructed to pass through the openings of the latch head 28. In this they are aided by the beveled inner surface 29 of said head. To spread the ends 27, and to maintain the same in locking relation to the head 28, there is provided a tapered plug 30. The plug 30, as best seen in Fig. 3 of the drawings, is mounted on the end of a connecting rod 31, the lower end of which extends beyond the tube 26 to within the cup 32 with which the handle is provided. The said rod is there furnished with a head 33 suitable for operation by pressure applied upward thereon. Normally the plug 30 is held by a spiral spring 34 between the ends 27 when the head 33 is released.

The lower end of the rod 10 is furnished with an annular flange to form a seat for a loose cushion spring 36, disposed between the tube 13 and the rod 10.

The rack arms 16 are preferably provided at the inner ends with screw-threaded sections 37. This, however, it will be understood, is optional, as any means of holding the arms 16 in the sockets formed by the sections 15, may be employed.

With an apparatus constructed as above described, the operation is as follows :-The normal position for the apparatus is that which is shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, where the arms 16 are held close to the ceiling of the room, and where the tube 13 is raised to envelop the rod 10. The operator desiring to lower the plate 12 and arms connected therewith, grasps the handle 25, and by pressing his thumb on the head 33, lifts the plug 30 out of engagement with the ends 27, permitting the same to contract to a diameter less than the opening in the head 28. If now the operator releases the tube 13, the apparatus drops upon the cushion spring 36, the sleeve section 20 striking on the top of said spring. After the clothes have been placed on the rack arms 16, the rack is raised, the ends 27 passing above and into engagement with the head 28.

In the modified form of the invention shown in Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings, means are provided for removing the operating handle from the path of persons passing below the, rack when in relatively lowered position. In this form of the invention, the tube 13 is connected with the socket plate 12 by a hinge plate 21, to which it is rigidly secured. The hinge plate 21 is pivotally connected with a hinge butt 22. The butt 22 is permanently secured upon the socket plate 12 by rivets 18, which pass through perforations 23 provided in said butt, see Fig. 5 of the drawings.

When the tube 13 is lifted to the position shown in Fig.4, the plate 21 is released from engagement with the latch nut 38, the same being turned lengthwise of the slot 39 formed in said plate. The tube 13 is then swung on a hinge 40 to a horizontal position, shown in Fig. 4, and is held there by turning a hook 41, pivotally mounted in the plate 12, under said tube. When the rack arms 16 have been properly provided with articles for drying, the hook 41 is turned to release the tube 13, which is then dropped until the latch nut 38 protrudes through the slot 39 in the plate 21. It is then locked in position by turning said latch nut. The tube 13 is now in line with the rod 10, and the plate 12 is lifted thereby. Prior to the plug 30 and ends 27 coming in contact with the inner surface 29 of the latch head 28, the operator presses upward the head 33, to permit the ends 27 to contract and pass upward through the opening at the upper end of the latch head 28. When the ends 27 have passed above the latch head 28, the operator, by releasing the head 33, permits the spring 34 to draw downward the plug 30 to spread the ends 27 in locking position upon the latch head 28, thereby locking the apparatus in its raised position, the clothes being thus held near the ceiling and removed from interference by persons passing thereunder.

In the modified form of the invention shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8 of the drawings, I provide a socket tube 42. The tube 42 is provided with a series of perforations 43, oppositely disposed to register with a perforation formed adjacent the upper end of a hanger rod 44, through which is passed a cotter pin 45 or other suitable device for holding the rod 44 in the tube 42.

By means of the modified form of the construction above described, it will be seen that the rod 44 may be adjusted to vary the height above the floor, at which the lower end of the rod 44 is maintained. The lower end of said rod 44 is provided with a latch head 46, in which bayonet slots 47 are formed. The bayonet slots 47 have two vertical extensions, the one open at the bottom, and the other closed, said extensions being joined at their top by a horizontal passage. The slots 47 are provided to receive and hold a pin 48, which is driven through a short rod 49, on which is mounted a handle 50, which handle is secured to said rod by means of a pin 51. The rod 49 is rotatable in a closure plug 52.

In the operation of the apparatus, when constructed as shown in Figs. 6 to 8, the handle 50, rod 49 and parts connected therewith rest on the plug 52, being supported thereon by the collar 54. When the handle is disposed as above set forth, the lifting tube 13 is dropped to its lowermost position, where the sleeve section 20 rests upon and is cushioned by the spiral spring 36. When it is desired to lift the socket plate and rack arms connected therewith to their normal service position adjacent the ceiling of the room, this is accomplished by the operator lifting the handle 50 until the pin 48 strikes on the inclined edges of the wedge sections 53, to be led thereby into the openended vertical extension of the bayonet slot 47. The operator now turns the handle 50- and rod 49 connected therewith, to swing the extension of the pin 48 to register with the vertical extensions of the slot 47 having closed ends or pockets to receive and hold the ends of the pin 48. In this manner, the clothes drier, when constructed in accordance with the modified form just above described, is raised to service position out of the path of the occupants of the room in which the drier is mounted.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent In a clothes drier such as described, the combination of a tubular guide rod; 21. lifting tube telescopically arranged upon said her, extending beyond said tube, for oper- 10 guide rod; a locking tube having split reating said wedge member.

silient expansible end sections mounted on In testimony whereof I have signed my said tube; a latch head mounted on said tuname to this specification in the presence of bular rod, at the lower end thereof, having a two subscribin witnesses.

central opening to normally pass said ex- EDlfiIN ALVIN WILLIAMS. pansible ends; a wedge member juxtaposed WVitnesses:

to and in line with said expansible ends; T. S. HICKQK,

and an operating stem for said wedge mem- E. J CLEVELAND.

Copies of this patent may be obtained to: five cents each, by addreuing the Gommluioner of Intent. Washington, I). 0. 

